Our visit to ministry projects in China
brought us to Yunnan province located in
southern China just east of
the Myanmar (Burma) border.
We traveled to several communities to observe Amity Foundation projects where
villagers greeted us warmly with music, dance and food.

The villages are in Longchuan
County. Situated in the
“Golden Triangle” with neighboring Laos,
Thailand and Myanmar, this
area has long been plagued with the production and trafficking of opium. The
ethnic Dai people in the area traditionally believed that opium was medicine
for headaches and could prolong life. This belief coupled with heavy drug
trafficking from Myanmar
has led to a county drug addiction rate of 4.5%.

The first case of HIV/AIDS in China
was authenticated here. Early HIV transmission here was largely from drug use,
while now most HIV transmission is through sexual contact. Here Amity
Foundation has established a multi-faceted program related to drug addiction,
HIV/AIDS, health care and economic development.

I was deeply moved by a villager who told of becoming drug addicted and HIV
positive. Rejected by the village and in total despair, he sought to survive by
crossing the border to seek work in Myanmar. When Amity began its
project in his village, he was able to return and entered the program. After
detoxification he was able to take out a small loan from the Amity
micro-finance project enabling him to buy several chickens. With careful
management he has repaid the loan and expanded his chicken flock so that the
sale of eggs provides him a living income. His is just one of the examples of
human transformation that we found in this village. This community is
encountering the love of God through the caring work of men and women who
follow Jesus.